Author
Topic: Regarding Mercyful Fate's Status (Read 9502 times)

I was wondering what was going on with MF and whether or not we would be getting another album from this legendary band. I was searching online for KD interviews and came across this info from a recent interview.

KD: Before â€˜9â€™, it was like two Mercyful Fate albums back to back and then we decided to do two King Diamond albums back to back. Then all kinds of things changed in the business, which is why we didnâ€™t tour for the â€˜Abigail IIâ€™ album. There were no touring funds at that point, which was the first time that had ever happened to us. It came as a shock, and the label told us it was music downloading. The label had lost overall about 30% of their income to downloading. So we had to renegotiate new contracts. Thatâ€™s always a bad word, especially in that sort of time, because youâ€™re going to get smaller budgets to do your albums. Our fans know me well enough to understand that if I canâ€™t deliver a product that I feel is the same quality or better than what weâ€™ve done before, then Iâ€™d rather stop. When those things happened, we renegotiated for both Mercyful Fate and King Diamond. So that tells you than in my mind anyway Mercyful Fate is not over. Itâ€™s just in a holding pattern right now. We tried to do all this with some foresight so weâ€™d be ready when the time comes. We were looking at a situation with King Diamond at the time that would mean lower recording budgets. We normally spend 9 weeks in the studio, and that was not an option. We were actually saying, â€œis this it, is this where it stops?â€ We found out we had one chance, and thatâ€™s because Andy has a studio in Sweden. Andy took all his top pro recording gear from his studio and packed it up and brought it to my house in Dallas. We turned my house into a studio, and here at my house we recorded all the rhythm guitars, all harmony guitars, Hal came in and recorded all his bass parts, and the keyboards. We did go into the studio where we would normally record, Nomad recording studios here in Dallas, and did all the drums and all the vocals there. That ended up being about three and a half, four weeks, so we saved five weeks of studio time. It actually worked better than before, because we found out a lot of positive things doing it this way. The clock wasnâ€™t ticking all the time. It was more fun. Hal and Andy were staying in guest rooms here at the house, and we were still working 12 hours a day, but a whole different atmosphere. You start working with a really positive attitude. By being smart and exploring different options we came up with a product that I think is better than anything we ever did. I can say there are only two albums in my whole career that I wouldnâ€™t change a thing on. â€˜The Puppet Masterâ€™ is one of them, and the first â€˜Abigailâ€™ is the other. Anyway, King Diamond has always sold more albums than Mercyful Fate. Mercyful Fate does not have access to Andyâ€™s gear, so in reality Mercy has bigger expenses and smaller budgets for recording. If Mercyful Fate were the only band in existence, I would not be a musician now. I would be doing another job to get by. King Diamond is still viable as a job. I love doing it, but it is also a job of course. King Diamond will always be number one. I get more of a challenge with the full concept stories, more variety in the songwriting and stage production. Mercyful Fate, a hobby would be the wrong word for it, but itâ€™s a thing that will happen when there is a break in the King Diamond work schedule. Itâ€™s not done from my standpoint as part of making a living; itâ€™s going to be purely for the love of Mercyful Fate music. I wonâ€™t make a dime on that album, I know that.

Well maybe he wouldn't make "a dime" on a new MF album (which I highly doubt), but King sure as Hell would make bank on getting a bunch of old-school-style MF merchandise out there!! I have been really surprised that this has not happened yet. MF is so "cult" and admired by people in many genres and I know that cool-looking, retro-ish stuff would be extremely popular. (For example, shirts that are not huge XL-sized ones, old-school backpatches with old MF images, stickers, patches, etc. etc. etc.)

IMO Mercyful Fate should at least get together and do a live DVD show... I don't want them to make an album just for the sake of doing it.But a sort of final Mercyful Fate show would be the perfect ending. A band is only as good as their last record, and if MF makes an album that totally sucks, it would be a wierd way to go for one of the greatest bands ever.Who knows.. maybe making a live dvd of MF might actually fuel the fire and make MF come back.

Logged

-Life is like a penis... When it's hard, you get screwed... When it's soft, you can't beat it-

Downloads work the same for everybody, but to a much less degree for underground metal bands, such as MF, as compared to chart toppers as Slipknot and Metallica.

Just sayin'...

I think the world would be 100% ready for a new MF record. I know I would be the first guy in line on the day of the release. MF only got better with every damn album (well, "In the Shadows" is still their best - but still)... I actually prefer later day MF to later day KD.

King's problem was that he was signed with both bands to the same label - silly move. I was talking to Uli Kusch (Masterplan, Beautiful Sin) the other month, and told him I thought it was a mistake for him to have both his bands on the same label. He disagreed. Now he's out of Masterplan and is busy trying to shop around for a new deal for Beautiful Sin. The label didn't front the money to tour with both.

Don't ever put all your eggs in the same basket, kids. If you treat your own band like an unfortunate side project, chances are your label will, too. Separate exclusive bands - separate exclusive labels and contracts.

The only thing standing in the way of MF is King, no matter what excuse he uses.

MF only got better with every damn album (well, "In the Shadows" is still their best - but still)... I actually prefer later day MF to later day KD.

I totally agree with this statement, I feel the same way. However I just want to say that whether or not it was a good idea to have been signed up for both bands, it was truely awsome as a fan to hear albums of both bands coming out at the same time. During the time when both KD & MF were releasing albums, there was like an album almost every year or so and they were all great. I found this fact very impressive. KD was in 2 different bands at the same time and both making excellent music. This one fact alone made me appreciate KD so much more as a musician and I will always remember this about him.